Video: Obama on education, children’s futures

Transcript of: Obama on education, children’s futures

Announcer:From
NBC News
, this is
Education Nation
, an interview with President
Barack Obama
, live from the
White House
. Here's
Matt Lauer
.

MATT LAUER, co-host (Washington, DC):And good morning, everyone. I'm
Matt Lauer
, live at the
White House
on this Monday morning, kicking off a weeklong initiative here on
NBC Universal
we're calling
Education Nation
.
And I
welcome you, all of you, who are watching on the many different networks of
NBC Universal
. It's arguably the most important thing we can give our children, a good education, and yet it seems to be very difficult to accomplish. A recent poll in
Time magazine
found that 67 percent of you feel the
education system
in this
country
right now is in crisis. The most important question, of course, is
can we fix it
. I'm joined now by the president of the
United States
,
Barack Obama.
Mr. President, thank you for your time this morning. I appreciate it.

President BARACK OBAMA:Thank you for doing this program,
Matt.
There's nothing more important than the issue we're talking about today.

LAUER:We agree. Let me start with the statistics, and some of them are alarming. A third of our students in this
country
don't graduate. Another third aren't college-ready when they get their
high school diploma
, and 35 percent of 12th-graders, only 35, are proficient in reading. In the wealthiest
nation
in the world, how'd it happen?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, it's been a long time coming. Historically, when we first set up the
public school
systems across the
country
, we were leaps and bounds ahead of the vast majority of countries around the world. That just is not true anymore. They have caught up and now in some cases are surpassing us, especially in math and science. It happened over decades. There are a lot of contributing factors, but part of the challenge, I think, for the entire
country
is to understand that how well we do economically, whether jobs are created here, high-end jobs that support families and support the future of the
American people
, is going to depend on whether or not we can do something about these schools.

LAUER:President Clinton
once said when it came to the crisis in education, it's not just a
money
thing, but it's a
money
thing. Can we spend our way out of it?

Pres. OBAMA:We can't spend our way out of it. I think that when you look at the statistics, the fact is, is that our per-pupil spending has gone up over the last couple of decades...

LAUER:While results have gone down.

Pres. OBAMA:...even as results have gone down.
Money
plays a factor, and obviously there are some schools where
money
plays a big factor. You know, they don't have up-to-date textbooks, they don't have computers in the
classroom
. So those who say
moneymakes no difference
are wrong.
On the other hand
,
money
without
reform
will not fix the
problem
. And what we've got to do is combine a very vigorous
reform
agenda that increases standards, helps make sure that we've got the best possible
teachers
inside the
classroom
, make sure that we're clearing away some of the bureaucratic underbrush that is preventing kids from learning. We've got to combine that with deploying resources effectively.

LAUER:One of the ways you want to accomplish that is with your initiative called
Race to the Top
.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:And I
'll sum it up -- correct me if I don't get this right...

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:...you've
set aside
about $4 billion of
federalmoney
.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:States
will compete for that
money
...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...that goes into their
education system
at the
state
level if they bring
reform
about in their communities.

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:And while some are applauding it, you're meeting some resistance at another level. Some have criticized it because it's a competition. It's almost a
March Madness
-type atmosphere surrounding education when we should be funding all of these
states
. How do you respond to that?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, here's -- keep in mind what happens,
Matt.
The
federal government
provides assistance to all
states
under a formula system, especially to help poorer
school districts
so that they can buy supplies, make sure that they can hire supplemental reading instructors and so forth. So that hasn't changed. But that
money
, because it was in a formula -- everybody was getting it no matter what you did -- wasn't really a catalyst for
reform
. So what we said is, 'Let's
set aside
a small portion, about $4 billion, and let's say you've got to compete for this and you got to compete around things that reformers know make a difference,
high standards
, accountability, really training
teachers
effectively, making sure low-performing schools are being boosted up.' And what's happened is 32
states
already have changed their laws, where previously all that stuff was stuck in
state legislatures
. Suddenly, because they had an incentive, they're starting to actually make changes. It's probably the most powerful tool we've seen for
reform
in a couple of decades.

LAUER:It -- then if it's that powerful...

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:...let me argue
the other side of the coin
-- why such a small fraction of what the
federal government
gives to
states
?

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:Four billion dollars sounds like a lot, but it is a fraction.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:Why not make more
federal funding
dependent on the kind of reforms you just talked about?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, what we want to do is make sure that we're still helping poor
school districts
that just don't have enough
money
.

LAUER:Right.

Pres. OBAMA:But it turns out that $4 billion, although a small fraction of the overall
money
that we spend on schools, is enough to get people's attention. And now I'm not going to lie to you, there is going to be resistance as we move forward during tight fiscal times. A lot of members of
Congress
say to themselves, 'Well, you know, if I -- my
state
loses the competition, you know, I don't feel as good about this even if I initiated reforms.'

LAUER:And how do the kids in that
state
feel? If their
state
didn't quite compete as well as another
state
...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...they're out of luck.

Pres. OBAMA:So that's why we want to make sure that every
state
's still getting help from the
federal government
, but let's
set aside
a small portion. And there's no
state
that can't win this thing because all they have to do is to say, 'We are going to take seriously those things like making sure you've got a terrific
teacher
in each
classroom
and making sure that we've got
high standards
and accountability.' Every
state
can accomplish that. It's a matter of getting through the resistance that oftentimes builds up in these
states
.

LAUER:Since you mentioned
teachers
, let's go there for a second. There are some good and great
teachers
in this
country
.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:There are also some mediocre and poor
teachers
in this
country
.

Pres. OBAMA:Yes.

LAUER:Can...

Pres. OBAMA:Sort of like -- sort of like politicians and journalists.

LAUER:Broadcasters. Exactly right. Can real
reform
take place unless you identify those mediocre and poor
teachers
and remove them? And when I say remove them, I don't mean shuffle them from
school
to
school
...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...or put them in a room. I mean fire them.

Pres. OBAMA:Well, first of all, I think everybody who looks at this says the single most important ingredient inside the
classroom
is the quality of the
teacher
. And there are terrific
teachers
out there and, you know, my sister teaches, and when you hear stories about how hard they work, when they come home from
school
they're still doing lesson plans, they're oftentimes in tough schools serving as counselors...

LAUER:Right.

Pres. OBAMA:...and social workers. So
teachers
are doing heroic jobs. Sometimes they're digging into their own pocket to buy
school
supplies. And so one of the
things I want
to do is lift up the teaching profession to honor it the way it needs to be honored in our society. And, by the way, when I travel to
China
, for example, and I sit down with the mayor of
Shanghai
and he talks about the fact that teaching is considered one of the most prestigious jobs and a
teacher
's getting paid the same as an engineer, that, I think, accounts for how well they're doing in terms of boosting their
education system
. Having said that, what is absolutely true is, is that if we can't identify
teachers
who are subpar, give them the opportunity to get better, but if they don't get better at a certain point, saying, 'These
teachers
should not be in the
classroom
,' if we don't do that, then we are doing a disservice to our kids. And the
school system
has to be designed not for our -- the adults. It's got to be designed for the children.

LAUER:There's a new documentary out right now. It's called "
Waiting for
Superman."

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:And it gives a fairly blistering account of
teachers
unions...

Pres. OBAMA:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:...saying that basically they're set up simply to protect their members...

Pres. OBAMA:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:...and protect the
status quo
and protect those mediocre and bad
teachers
and, as a result, are getting in the way of real
reform
and really educating our children. Is it a fair assessment in your opinion?

Pres. OBAMA:Here's what's true, is that oftentimes
teachers
unions are designed to make sure that their membership are protected against arbitrary firings. And historically
teachers
were predominantly women and as a consequence they were paid less professionwide. And so I'm a strong supporter of the notion that a
union
can protect its members and help be part of the solution as opposed to part of the
problem
. What is also true is that sometimes that
means
they are resistant to change when things aren't working. Now, to their credit, you've had a lot of unions who are now working with
states
on these
reform
plans that include things like
charter schools
, include things like pay-for-performance and higher standards and accountability for
teachers
, and so we've seen
states
be able to work with
teachers
unions to bring about reforms as opposed to resist them.

LAUER:Well, if you could -- if you could speak to the leadership of...

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:...and the membership of the two most powerful
teachers
unions right now...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...and tell them what they must do starting today to be a legitimate partner...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...in
reform
, what would you tell them they have to do?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, it turns out, as president, I actually can speak to them, and what I have said to them and what
Arne Duncan
, my secretary of education, has said to them, is, 'We want to work with you. We're not interested in imposing changes on you' -- because the truth of the matter is, is that if
teachers
aren't feeling good about their profession, they're not going to do a good job in the
classroom
-- 'but you can't -- you can't defend a
status quo
in which a third of our kids are dropping out. You can't defend a
status quo
when you've got 2,000 schools across the
country
that are dropout factories' -- and they really are, where more than half of the kids are dropping out. In those -- in those schools you've got to have
radical change
. And
radical change
is something that is the interest of the students and ultimately in the interest of the
teachers
because the vast majority of
teachers
want to do a good job. They didn't go into teaching for the
money
; they went into teaching because they believed they could make a difference, but they're in structures that don't work. And what that
means
is we've got to be able to identify
teachers
who are doing well,
teachers
who are not doing well. We've got to give them support and the training to do well, and ultimately, if some
teachers
aren't doing a good job, they've got to go.

LAUER:You mentioned dropout factories. One of the -- the other things you'd like to do is is you'd like to identify the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools in this
country
and either close them down or in some cases turn them over to charter operators.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:That would increase the number of
charter schools
in this
country
enormously. It could double...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...the number. Are you worried that by expanding that program so rapidly you would dilute some quality in
charter schools
?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, look,
charter schools
are not a panacea. In fact, one of the things when you're looking at
school reform
is you -- it turns out there's no -- there are no silver bullets here.
Reform
is hard, it's systematic, it takes time, but we know that there are some charters who have figured out how to do a very good job in the lowest-income schools with the kids who are two, three grade levels behind, and yet they can achieve 90, 95 percent graduation rates, boost reading scores and math scores very high. What we've got to do is to look at the success of these schools, find out how do we duplicate them, and make sure that we are still holding
charter schools
accountable the same way we are all the schools. We shouldn't say just because a
school
's a charter that's it's an excellence
school
because there's some actually very poor-performing charters. But what I -- what I'm interested in, what my secretary of education are interested in is fostering a -- these laboratories of excellence where we start learning. You know what? If it turns out if we lengthened the
school day
here or we give them a little more homework there or we're setting aside time for professional development for
teachers
here or we're building a culture of excellence among kids at that
school
, that that works. And once we find out something works, then we want to import that to every
school
, not just into
charter schools
.

LAUER:In that documentary -- I'm not shilling the documentary, by the way, I just think that people...

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:...are going to be talking about it...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...so I want to bring some things up. They talk about the lack of choice that people -- you mentioned
charter schools
in those very bad
neighborhoods
...

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:...that -- the lack of choice that people in our poorest
neighborhoods
have.

Pres. OBAMA:Mm-hmm. Right.

LAUER:If they live in an area where there's an underperforming
school
and yet there's a great
charter school
, the number of applicants for a few positions at that
charter school
...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...can be enormous. And so what happens by law is the kids are put into a lottery and literally and figuratively their future is based on the roll of a dice or their name being drawn out of a hat.

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:It's a bit of a disgrace, isn't it?

Pres. OBAMA:Ah, it's heartbreaking. And when you see these
parents
in the film, you are reminded that -- I don't care what people's income levels are, you know, their stake in their kids, their wanting desperately to make sure their kids are able to succeed is so powerful, and it's obviously difficult to watch to see these kids who know that this
school
's going to give them a better chance, that that should depend on the bounce of a ball. And so our goal is to make all schools high-quality schools, make every
classroom
one where if a kid is showing up, taking the responsibility seriously, doing what they're supposed to do, that they can succeed, they're going to be able to read, they're going to have high math scores. It's going to take some time, but what we've now learned is there are schools that can work even in the toughest circumstances. And once we know that, then it's inexcusable that we don't try to make sure that every
school
is performing at that same level.

LAUER:Since we've brought up the subject of
parents
, you know, we asked some of our viewers to give us some e-mail questions for us.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:We had
Bethany Lutwin
in
Norton
,
Ohio
, who wrote us this: "I'm a
middle schoolteacher
in
Cleveland
. One of our biggest concerns in education is the fact that
parents
are rarely held accountable for their children's education. The blame for failing
test scores
always falls on the
teacher
. The responsibility of education should be shared by
teachers
, administrators and
parents
. Why doesn't anyone ever hold
parents
accountable?"

Pres. OBAMA:Well, I have to say there's not been a speech I've made about education over
the last five years
in which I haven't said the exact same thing. I mean, at some level, no matter how good the
teacher
, if the kid's
coming home
from
school
and the
parents
aren't checking to see if they do their homework or watch
TV
, that's a -- that's going to be a
problem
. And that's, by the way, true here in this
White House
. I mean,
Malia
and
Sasha
are great kids and great students, but if you gave them a choice, they'd be happy to sit in front of the
TV
all night long every night. At some point you have to say, 'Your job right now, kid, is to learn.
And I
'm going to check with your
teachers
and I'm going to make sure that you're doing your homework and you're not doing anything else until you've done your homework.' And that kind of attitude, I think, makes a huge difference at every level. And one thing I want to make -- I want to point out,
Matt
, there's no doubt that the schools in the toughest
neighborhoods
and the poorest
neighborhoods
are oftentimes the ones that are poorest performing. They are in crisis. But one of the things that
everybody needs
to understand is, is that across the board, in middle-class suburbs in schools that are considered actually pretty good, you are still seeing a decline in terms...

LAUER:Right.

Pres. OBAMA:...of math and science performance. And one of the things that we are very excited about -- because we need to focus on math and science -- my
administration
is announcing that we are going to specifically focus on training 10,000 new math and science
teachers
. We've got to boost performance in that area. We used to rank at the top; we are now 21st in science, 25th in math. That is a sign of long-term decline that has to be reversed. And so we're going to be putting a big emphasis on math and
science education
, and part of that
means
getting better
teachers
. But part of it also
meansparents
understanding, yeah, their kids need to excel in those subjects in particular.

LAUER:Here's another question. We can probably get through this one pretty quickly. You're going to make a lot of friends or a lot of enemies here. Mr.

Cohen's sixth-grade class, Roll Hill School, Cincinnati:"
President Obama
, we understand there are discussions regarding the idea of attending
school
year-round. Do you think we should attend
school
year-round? If so, why?"

Pres. OBAMA:I think we should have longer
school
years. We now have our kids go to
school
about a month less than most other advanced countries. And that month makes a difference. It
means
that kids are losing a lot of what they learn during the
school
year during the summer. It's especially severe for poorer kids who may not be -- have -- seeing as many books in their
house
during the summers, aren't getting supplemental educational activities. So the idea of a longer
school
year, I think, makes sense. Now, that's going to cost some
money
. So here's an example of where you've got a good idea of
reform
-- make sure our kids are in
school
longer -- well, that
means
the
school
is open, it
means
you got to pay
teachers
, custodial staff, etc. But I think that's -- that would be
money
well spent.

LAUER:Got a
young lady
by the name of
Kelly Burnett
back up in
New York
in our
Learning Plaza
. She's from
Nassau County
,
Florida
, and I believe she has a question for you.
Kelly
, good morning. What's your question for
President Obama
?

Ms. KELLY BURNETT:Good morning. Thank you for taking my question,
President Obama
. As a father of two very delightful and seemingly very bright daughters, I wanted to know whether or not you think that
Malia
and
Sasha
would get the same high-quality, rigorous education in a
DCpublic school
as compared to their very elite private academy that they're attending now?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, thanks for the question,
Kelly
.

Ms. BURNETT:Mm-hmm.

Pres. OBAMA:And I
'll be blunt with you. The answer's no right now. The
DCpublic school
systems are struggling. Now, they have made some important strides over the last several years to move in the direction of
reform
.

Ms. BURNETT:Right.

Pres. OBAMA:There are some terrific individual schools in the
DC
system -- and that's true, by the way, in every city across the
country
. In my hometown of
Chicago
there are some great
public schools
that are on par with any
private school
in the
country
. But it goes to the point
Matt
and I were talking about earlier. A lot of times you've got to test in or there -- it's a lottery pick...

Pres. OBAMA:...for you to be able to get into those schools, and so those options are not available for enough children.

Ms. BURNETT:Right.

Pres. OBAMA:I'll be very honest with you. Given my position, if I wanted to find a great
public school
for
Malia
and
Sasha
to be in, we could probably maneuver to do it. But the broader
problem
is for a mom or a dad who are, you know, working hard but don't have a bunch of connections, you know, don't have a lot of choice in terms of where they live...

Ms. BURNETT:Right.

Pres. OBAMA:...they should be getting the same quality education for their kids as anybody else. And we don't have that yet.

LAUER:Kelly
,
thank you very much
for your question. I appreciate it.

Ms. BURNETT:Thank you.

Pres. OBAMA:Thanks,
Kelly
.

Ms. BURNETT:Thank you.

LAUER:One more on education and then I'll move briefly onto some news of the day. How do you inspire those
teachers
you talked about, the ones that are so important? How do you inspire a young
college student
right now who's considering going into teaching, who sees budgets being slashed...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...layoffs, sees those
teachers
having to dip into their own pocketbook to pay for
classroom
supplies and now sees new pressure to get their kids to perform in a system that a lot of people think is broken? How do you inspire the next generation of
teachers
?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, first of all, there is nothing more important than teaching. I genuinely believe this.
And I
don't know a
teacher
who can't look back and say, 'You know what? Here are so many lives that I've touched, so many people who I've had influence over,' and each of us have memories of some great
teacher
who steered us in the right direction.

LAUER:Sure.

Pres. OBAMA:What I want to also do, though, is make sure that if they go into teaching they can stay into teaching, they can afford it, which
means
that we've got to raise
teacher
pay generally. We want to professionalize it so that if you get to be a
master teacher
, a better
teacher
, you can make more
money
. That's true of any profession. We've got to make sure that they've got a structure around them in which they can succeed. And if we do those things, I think there are tons of kids who want to teach. You know, the
Teach For America
program, you see some of the smartest kids in the
country
applying and oftentimes having to be on waiting lists to get in. The
problem
is not that we can't attract great
young people
to go into teaching, the
problem
is, is that typically after two to three years they start dropping out. They feel discouraged because no matter how hard they're working in the
classroom
, you know, they just can't afford it once they start trying to raise a family, particularly in urban areas where
the cost of living
is higher. And they don't feel that they're getting enough support from the principal, the
school system
, the
school district
.

LAUER:So you
reform
that system, they will come.

Pres. OBAMA:They will come. In the meantime, though, anybody who's watching, you know, we're going to have to fill about a million teaching slots around the
country
, and I want
young people
to understand that there is not a more important profession for the success of our economy over the long term than making sure that we've got great
teachers
in the
classroom
.

LAUER:Some other topics. Recently the
poverty rate
in this
country
was announced. It's at 14.3 percent.

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:That
means
roughly 44 million
Americans
are living at or below the
poverty level
.

Pres. OBAMA:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:It was stunning to me to know what the
poverty level
is, $22,000 a year for a family of four. So consider a family of four making 30,000 or 40,000.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:They're not living the dream either.

Pres. OBAMA:No.

LAUER:They're struggling every single week. How can any
American president
hear those numbers and not decide to declare this some kind of national emergency?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, look, we have gone through the worst recession since the
Great Depression
, and although the steps that my
administration
have taken have been able to stem some of the crisis and stabilize the situation, we're still in the midst of the aftereffects of that. When you've got eight million people unemployed, when you've got a lot of people underemployed, it
means
that the
poverty rate
's going to go up. And that's why taking the steps that I've been pushing for to make sure that we've got
tax breaks
to encourage companies investing here in the
United States
, making sure that the small-business bill that I pass and that I'm going to be signing today provides loans to
small businesses
and cuts their taxes on things like capital gains to encourage investment, building infrastructure so that we are improving our ability to perform internationally, all those things are going to make a difference because the single most important anti-
poverty
program we can initiate is making sure that there's enough
job growth
out there.

LAUER:Last time we sat down...

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:...you said to me you were confident that this recovery, when it seemed like it was more of a recovery at the time, would not be a
jobless recovery
.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:Seems to me I'm listening to more and more economists who aren't so sure about that. Have you changed your thinking at all that a lot of these eight million jobs simply aren't coming back?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, here's the challenge. It's not that this is a
jobless recovery
. We're actually -- we've seen eight months in a row of private sector
job growth
. We're actually seeing more
job growth
so far in this recovery than we did in the last recovery that we had back in
2001
. The
problem
is we just lost so many jobs because of the crisis that we've got a much bigger hole to fill. And that
means
we're going to have to accelerate
job growth
and we've got to do everything we can to focus on that, and that
means
making sure that anything we do we're spending that
money
wisely and that -- you know, one of the major disagreements I've got, for example, with the
Republicans
right now has to do with
tax cuts
for the
wealthiest Americans
, you and me.
You and I
,
Matt
, you know, we're not likely to spend any additional
tax cut
because whatever we need for our families we can afford right now. What we need is
tax cuts
for the
middle class
who are struggling. And if they get a
tax cut
they're likely to spend it, which
means
that a
small business
is potentially going to get a customer and we're going to see
job growth
. So we can't spend $700 billion on a
tax cut
that is not going to spur
job growth
. We can spend
money
on things like infrastructure, on things like
school
construction, on making sure that
small businesses
are getting loans because those are the things that are more likely to generate the
job growth
we need.

LAUER:You remember
Velma Hart
? Velma Hart...

Pres. OBAMA:I do.

LAUER:...was a woman you met at a -- at town hall meeting...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...on
CNBC
a week ago today....

Pres. OBAMA:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:...and she's the woman who said that she was one of your biggest supporters...

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:...your core supporters, and she was exhausted defending you.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:It seemed to me what she was saying --
and I
've heard others say as of late, Mr. President -- is that there's a feeling that in some way you have lost touch with the struggles of the average person on the street. I say it with some sense of irony because you began your career in
public service
as a
community organizer
.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:That is all about getting in touch with people on the street. So how can this criticism now be coming up of a guy who started out as a
community organizer
?

Pres. OBAMA:You know, it's interesting.
Velma
, I think, subsequently was interviewed and she just talked about the fact that, look, she thought, 'The president's really trying, he's working hard. A lot of things he's doing I think are right, but it's just not happening fast enough.' Well, everybody's feels that frustration right now. I feel it and -- acutely. And, you know,
the fact of the matter
is that as long as unemployment is as high as it is, as long as we haven't recovered as quickly as we should have, people are going to be hurting. And even if they think that I know they're hurting, what they're asking is, 'When are you going to be able to do something concrete that allows me to get a job or make sure that I can pay my bills or make sure that I don't lose my
house
?' And, you know, all I can communicate to the
American people
is that every single day the thing that I wake up with and the thing that I go to bed with is the fact that there are too many
Americans
out there who are doing the right thing, working hard, taking their responsibilities seriously and are still having a tough time in this economy. We are doing everything we can to make sure that they have an opportunity to live out that
American dream
.

LAUER:We are five weeks before the midterm elections and it's getting pretty heated.

Pres. OBAMA:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:There's no question. You said at a speech recently, you said, 'You know, the
Republicans
, they're treating me like a dog.' There's a lot of rhetoric out there, coming from the
Republicans
toward you, coming from the tea party toward you.

Pres. OBAMA:Right.

LAUER:Former
President Clinton
said he doesn't think that
Democrats
, and you included, have been rigorous enough in pushing back against some of the Republican attacks. Over these next five weeks, Mr. President...

Pres. OBAMA:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:...do you intend to change your tone or your emotion in terms of your pushing back?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, I think that if you've have heard me speak around the
country
over the last several months, I think that it's clear we -- I've got a very sharp difference with the
Republicans
on a lot of issues. And when I say
Republicans
, I really should say Republican leadership because I think there are a lot of wonderful people out there who consider themselves
Republicans
or independents who have maybe some criticisms of my
administration
but basically recognize we've got to solve some big problems, we've got to be serious, we've got to base our decisions on facts. What I'm seeing out of the Republican leadership over the last several years has been a set of policies that are just irresponsible, and we saw in their
Pledge
to
America
a similar set of irresponsible policies. They say they want to balance the
budget
, they propose $4 trillion worth of
tax cuts
and 16 billion in spending cuts, and then they say we're going to somehow magically balance the
budget
. That's not a serious approach. So, you know, the question for voters over the next five weeks is, 'Who is putting forward policies that have a chance to move our
country
forward so that our schools have improved, so that we have world-class infrastructure, so that we're serious about helping
small business
, we're serious about getting a handle on our spending, and who's just engaging in rhetoric?'
And I
think that if that debate is taking place over the next five weeks, we are going to do just fine.

LAUER:In the 40 seconds I have left,
Rahm Emanuel
, your chief of staff, is considering a run for...

Pres. OBAMA:Yeah.

LAUER:...the mayor's office in
Chicago
. A lot of people think his time is getting short to make that decision.

Pres. OBAMA:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:Has he communicated his decision to you?

Pres. OBAMA:Well, I think that
Rahm
will have to make a decision quickly because running for mayor in
Chicago
is a -- is a serious enterprise.
And I
know this is something he's thinking about...

Speaking to TODAY's Matt Lauer in the Green Room of the White House for nearly 30 minutes, Obama said that additional funding tied to significant reforms — including a longer school year and lifting teaching as a profession — is a much-needed fix.

"We can't spend our way out of it. I think that when you look at the statistics, the fact is that our per-pupil spending has gone up during the last couple of decades even as results have gone down," explained Obama, invited to appear by NBC as the network launched its weeklong "Education Nation" initiative.

"Obviously, in some schools money plays a big factor ... ," Obama said, pointing out that schools in the poorest areas often don't have up-to-date textbooks. "On the other hand, money without reform will not fix the problem."

Obama said his administration's "reform agenda" includes increasing standards, finding and encouraging the best teachers, decreasing bureaucracy and deploying financial resources effectively. Teachers who fail to live up to expectations need to be given a chance to improve, he said, while those who do not should move on.

Longer school year?
Obama repeated his support for a longer school year after being asked about it by students from a sixth-grade class in Cincinatti, Ohio. He did not specify how long that school year should be, however he noted that U.S. students attend classes, on average, about a month less than children in most other advanced countries.

"That month makes a difference. It means students are losing a lot of what they learn during the school year during the summer ... The idea of a longer school year, I think, makes sense," Obama said. "Now, that's going to cost some money ..., but I think that would be money well spent."

The 20 students in Matt Cohen's class at Roll Hill Elementary School were so thrilled that President Obama answered their question about extending the school year that Cohen had to reply his answer three times.

"They were excited," said Cohen, who submitted the question online on the students' behalf. "Some of the students think that we should not have an extended school year because their brains need time to rest — that's what they said. Others think it is good ... it keeps them busy and out of trouble."

Role of teachers
Obama says his administration's Race to the Top initiative has been one of the "most powerful tools for reform" in many years. Through the program, states compete for $4 billion in funding by highlighting their plans for reform.

The president said he wants to work with teachers' unions, and he embraced the role of defending their members. But he said unions cannot and should not defend a status quo in which one-third of children are dropping out. He urged them not to be resistant to change, particularly in schools which he said have become "dropout factories."

"The vast majority of teachers want to do a good job ... We have to be able to identify teachers who are doing well," the president said. "Teachers who are not doing well, we have to give them the support and the training to do well. And ultimately, if some teachers are not doing a good job, they've gotta go."

While the nation’s poorer schools are of immediate concern, Obama said his administration is also concerned about the decline in math and science scores in middle-class districts, and hiring teachers is key to reversing that trend.

“My administration is announcing that we are going to specifically focus on training 10,000 new math and science teachers," he said. "We have to boost performance in that area. We used to rank at the top; we are now 21st in science, 25th in math. That is a sign of long-term decline that has to be reversed.”

Reforms linked to economy
During the interview, the president returned several times to a discussion of the economy, job creation and the staggering unemployment rate that has hurt tax revenues at every level of government.

"It's not that this is a jobless recovery. We've seen eight months in a row of private sector job growth ... The problem is that we just lost so many jobs because of the crisis that we've got a much bigger hole to fill," Obama said.

Asked if he was aware that some Americans think he is out of touch when it comes to jobs, Obama assured Lauer that the economy is forefront on his mind.

"The fact of the matter is, as long as unemployment is as high as it is, as long as we haven't recovered as quickly as we should have, people are going to be be hurting," Obama said. "All I can communicate to the American people is that every single day, the thing that I wake up with and the thing I go to bed with is the fact that too many Americans are out there who are doing the right thing, working hard, taking the responsibilities seriously, and are still having a tough time in this economy."

Parental accountability
Obama reminded Lauer that he is a parent of school-age children, although his daughters, Sasha, 9, and Malia, 12, are both enrolled in private schools that Obama acknowledged are much better than the public schools in Washington, D.C.

Parents can and should do more to foster learning by introducing good study habits at home, he said.

"No matter how good the teacher, if the kid's coming home from school, and the parent isn't checking to see if they are doing their homework or watching TV, that's going to be a problem," he said. "And that, by the way, is true here in this White House. Malia and Sasha are great kids, and great students. But if you gave them a choice, they'd be happy to sit in front of the TV all night long, every night. At some point you have to say, ‘Your job, kid, right now, is to learn.’ ”